Chapter 8

Oleg has always been a very exemplary boy, a loving son, and a caring grandson. He loved his mother and grandmother very much. It should be noted that mother Olga and grandmother Zina loved Oleg much more. He has always been too overprotected and put on a pedestal as a little God.

Oleg's father left the family when the boy was eighteen. Having suffered in eternal quarrels and scandals about the upbringing of the child, the family broke up, the father was forbidden to punish the boy for pranks, give him to sports or take him fishing. It was a taboo to punish him, he could get injured in sports, and catch a cold at the open air. The slightest desire of a man to teach his son was met with hostility. And it ended with another stupid and vulgar scandal.

Grandmother Zina, who came from the countryside to help with her grandson, remained in Moscow. Their seniors’ apartment was a large one, left as a legacy by rich and distinguished relatives. His great-aunt had no children, and the only heir was a grandson her dear and beloved sister, Maxim, Oleg's father.

Having met Olya at an exhibition of paintings, a modest, provincial girl studying the art of the Silver age, Maxim just a few months later made a proposition. The couple was among a smart set of artists and the Bohemia of Moscow. Quiet, intelligent, and smiling Maxim and Olga carefully hid their main family problem, they tried to get pregnant for a long time, but fate, generous in everything, did not give them a child for many years.

Maxim was forty, Olga was thirty-eight.

– Pregnant! – reported the district gynecologist with joy and relief.

The late pregnancy was a very hard ordeal. Olya went blue from toxicosis and thin from headaches and nausea. In the last months, she was taken to the hospital. There was a real threat of miscarriage. That happened at the beginning of the ninth month, the long-awaited first child Oleg was born.

The boy was very weak and sickly. Granny Zina rushing to help her daughter and it was reliable support and help. They took turns sleeping, the little boy screamed from colic and often had a fever. In the first three years of life, three adults never got eight hours of sleep each. Oleg had caught all types of children and adult illnesses. He was a regular visitor to all hospitals, managed to break not only his hands but also his legs on the playground, so until he was three years old, the three adult idiots did learn how to take care of a small trouble bag.

A little later it became a bit better, the boy got stronger, almost equal in height and weight with his peers, was ill once every six months and almost never missed school.

The family returned to its usual rhythm of life, Maxim and Olga were engaged in work in the field of art, and Olga's mother helped around the house and with Oleg.

– Pregnant, – the district gynecologist looked at Olga.

There was a vivid discussion until morning. Olga decided to give a birth, although Maxim was strictly against it. The mother was on her daughter's side.

The miscarriage happened almost at the sixth month, the child could not stand the virus Olga got sick with and got still inside. She asked not to tell the gender of the unborn child, even though she knew in her heart that it was a girl. She had already secretly named her, Eva.

Since then, their family had had a black streak. Olga gave up her job at the state gallery and devoted herself to her only son. And his grandmother was taking care of him as well, now both women were praying for him. At first, the husband blamed his wife's insanity on a severe loss and then realized that the wife had gone mad because of her only son. All-day long they waited for him from school, taking him to music, drawing, and language classes. Maxim wanted to go in for swimming with him but met with such a cruel rebuff that he closed the subject.

Once Oleg, spoiled by two eternal servants stole some money from his grandmother's purse and bought binoculars, cigarettes, and chocolate. Maxim wanted to punish the impudent youth, but his mother and grandmother, with bloodshot eyes, rushed at his father and son-in-law like tigresses.

The head of the family began to come home later and later. Then he started staying with a colleague from work. But he left the family like a decent man, leaving everything when the child turned eighteen.

Oleg, who had pretty much driven his mother and grandmother with his antics, became subdued after his father left. Looking at himself from the side, he shook himself up, entered the Moscow Polytechnic and moved to a hostel. Without his mother and his grandmother it was difficult for the first few weeks. Then he forgot that someone had cooked for him, washed, cleaned and ironed. He made friends with his classmates and was surprised to discover football and swimming.

Oleg was the best in computer science at the University. In the late nineties, computers were unavailable for ordinary citizens like spaceships. And having learned that the computer was going to restore the peace in their family, his mother and his grandmother called Oleg's father and asked for half of the sum of money. He listened to the offer, bought and brought to them a real computer, a gift for his son's birthday by himself.

The only condition that the computer would stay at the mother’s flat (Maxim's former apartment), Oleg was happy as a young dolphin. Now was spending days and nights through in the family home. Mother Olya and grandmother Zina was crying with emotions of happiness, his father came once a week to visit his son and always found him at home, by the computer. Moreover, Tolik, his best friend, who was a graduate of medical school, came to work on the computer with Oleg every day. And women, instead on his coming every day, now they had a double joy. They loved Tolik as if he also was their son and grandson.

Chapter 9

Vera spoke to Oleg rather coldly, for the first time during a long period of their relationship.

– Hi, Honey, why are you so sad?

– Oleg, I called you a lot of times the day before yesterday and yesterday. I decided not to bother you today. My friend picked me up from the hospital yesterday and brought me home.

"From the hospital?" What happened? He pretended to be so surprised that even Vera, who was in love with him, did not believe his words this time.

"Don’t be ridiculous. Your wife took me to the hospital to see the doctor. Didn't you know? Didn't any of them tell you? Did you decide not to bother me? I might die, – self-pity covered the girl with such force that she hung up for the first time.

As she washed away her angry tears with mascara in the bathroom, the phone rang and the walls of the bathroom spread its echo across. Without looking at the display and being sure it was him begging for the excuse, she grumbled fiercely:

"I've already told you. Is there anything unclear?

"Excuse me, is this Vera?"

The woman’s voice on the other end of the line was agitated and trembling. Obviously, the woman had been preparing for this conversation for a long time. And today I decided to dial the destined number.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

– Vera, my name is Larisa… I'm Oleg's ex-girlfriend. I want to talk to you. Can we have a meeting?

"I've already met his wife, thank you and goodbye," the current mistress sighed heavily and was about to hang up when she heard the unexpected sharp quickly pronounced words cutting her ear:

”I know that you are not able to have children. Ara sacrificed you to her gods! She is familiar with Dark Magic!”

Vera's hands began to shake, she mechanically hung up, but the tremor was so strong that the phone fell on the snow-white floor tiles. It rang again.

She pressed the broken display against her ear and answered:

"Come to my house. I'll text you the address.

– Vera, you are in touch, thank God. I'm sorry, but I know your address. I also lived in this apartment for several years.

Larisa rang the doorbell exactly thirty minutes later. A tall, slender woman in her thirties looked chic. Dark, long hair, light brown eyes, a perfect face minimally touched with makeup, on the lips a nude fashionable shade of lipstick and a light train of expensive perfume, a black turtleneck, jeans, jewelry only a watch of a famous Swiss brand and a diamond ring on the ring finger.

I am Larisa, Lala for short. She took off her coat and left her bag in the corridor, followed the hostess to the kitchen.

– Tea? Coffee? – Vera barely uttered the words, such a crazy weight, fatigue, physical and moral pain fell on her, that she was becoming smaller and grayer in front of the gorgeous Lala.

"Thank you, I’ll just have a glass of water."

Lala immediately got down to the main point. She told her story.

Oleg got acquainted with her accidentally at the birthday of a rich friend of theirs, they instantly liked each other, and Larisa found out that Oleg had been married to Ara after a few months. Lala mentioned about the house in Thailand, how marvelously they were traveling in Europe, and then her lover rented this apartment for her.

Vera had a terrible headache. Lala’s words hammered her temples with no slightest mercy. She remembered her mother used to make her wear a rabbit fur hat in winter so that Vera wouldn't get cold in her ears. That cap was warm and large, the gray fur tickled Vera's face, and the strings under her chin pressed against her neck. She said that nothing could be heard in that hat, and when her mother called her to return home from the skating rink, Vera pretended that she did not hear her mother's shouts and promises to punish her for misbehavior.

So now sitting in front of Oleg’s ex-girlfriend, and the words said by the latter reached her through the imaginary child's fur hat like knife goes through the butter, she could heard and understand every word. The invisible strings were tight around her neck, and she drew in her breath noisily and heavily.

"Vera, are you alright?" She heard Larisa's words distinctly and clearly.

"I am fine. Just recently I’ve been in the clinic, probably, this is still the effect of drugs and anesthesia.

"That's why I came to you. You see, I was in this clinic, too. The fact is that I got pregnant from Oleg. He met this with hostility, took me to the clinic for an abortion under the careful guidance of his Doctor. Yes, Yes. It is exactly that I was terribly worried about. I wanted to keep the baby. But then my friend who works in this clinic told me that Oleg had already brought a young lady here for an abortion a few years ago. She died on the operating table. According to the documents, the cause of death was an allergy to anesthesia. Unfortunately, this happens, doctors also make mistakes, not checking the patient for tolerance. But the strangest thing is that my friend told me that during the operation, instead of Oleg, Arina, Oleg's wife, was sitting behind the door. The staff signed a non-disclosure agreement, but when my friend saw me on the abortion list, she immediately called me. I was really scared, I'll admit it. After getting Oleg fairly drunk, I began to ask him about that young lady. At first he refused, then told me that he had a young girl, a student from a poor family. They dated for several months, and then Natasha got pregnant. He always called her Natasha. I don't remember her last name. He took her to have an abortion at a friend's clinic, but she died. Oleg began to cry, saying that Ara can't have children, that he is a traitor and bastard. He also said that he loved his wife like a goddess, like a shrine, and would never have a child with a mistress. Then the next morning he woke up, sobered up, obviously remembering our dialogue in details, behaved aggressively towards me for the first time. I've never seen Oleg so angry. But after he had left, Arina called me.

Larisa gulped down her water. Her hands began to shake visibly. She took a deep breath and continued.

– Ara came right here, to this apartment, to our cozy nest, as I dreamt it to be. She went to the sofa without taking off her shoes and lit a cigarette. This is an amazing woman, in her presence I felt like an insect that she can easily crush. All my thoughts, desires, plans disappeared. My head then was clear. All I had in my head was Ara's thoughts. She didn't say anything, but I knew everything she was telling me. She wanted a baby, my baby. She would not to love and educate that baby. Ara wanted a sacrifice. My child had to be sacrificed to her gods so that she could become pregnant. I clearly understood this. Vera, don't ask me how. Just ask Oleg who Natasha was and why she died on the operating table. I now have a family, a husband, child and business, I haven't seen Oleg for a long time, but yesterday a friend from the clinic called me and told me about you. Vera, run away from them. These three: Oleg, Arina, and Doctor are terrible people. I'm afraid of them, and I want to warn you to stay away from them.

Vera closed the door behind Larisa and sat down on the floor. Forty minutes later, the doorbell rang. Rising with difficulty, Vera looked through the peephole and opened the door. There were two persons standing there. They were two out of three.